Payable on Death

Payable on Death
Studio album by P.O.D.
Released	November 4, 2003 December 1, 2003 (Japan)
Recorded	May — July 2003 at Bay 7, Valley Village, California and Sparky Dark, Calabasas, California
Genre	Alternative metal Christian metal Reggae rock
Length	44:22
Label	Atlantic Records
Producer	Howard Benson P.O.D.
Professional reviews
Allmusic link The Phantom Tollbooth link Christianity Today link Artistdirect link Jesus Freak Hideout link Blender link Rolling Stone link Cross Rhythms link Entertainment Weekly C link
P.O.D. chronology
Satellite (2001) Payable on Death (2003) The Warriors EP, Volume 2 (2005)
Singles from Payable on Death
"Will You" Released: September 22, 2003 "Change the World" Released: January 16, 2004

Payable on Death is the self- titled studio album and third major label release by Californian metal quartet P.O.D.. This is also their first album to include guitarist Jason Truby. Payable on Death was released on November 4, 2003 through Atlantic. According to Soundscan, it sold a little under 500,000 copies as of January 2006. However, it has shipped over 500,000 copies in the U.S.; therefore, it was certified gold by the RIAA. It has sold over 1,300,000 copies worldwide.

The album's relatively poor sales are partly due to a shakeup at Atlantic Records, leaving P.O.D. with no label support, meaning the only promotion the album got was by word of mouth and online promotion from fans. Having sold 106,000 copies in its first week, the album debuted at No. 9 on the Billboard Top 200 chart on the strength of the first single and music video for "Will You". Soon after, the internal problems at Atlantic Records led to the album being virtually given up on.^{[citation needed]} The band filmed a video for the next single, "Change the World", but it was never shipped to MTV. However, it did air on the lesser known Fuse TV.

Payable on Death saw the band head in a more traditional metal sound and away from their well-known Nu metal style which was losing popularity by 2003. Vocalist Sonny Sandoval also utilizes a considerable amount of reggae style singing throughout the album, namely in tracks such as "Change the World", "Execute the Sounds", and "Revolution", while his rapped vocals are completely absent. The last track, "Eternal", is an instrumental song featuring famed guitarist Phil Keaggy.

Track listing

1. "Wildfire" – 3:15
2. "Will You" – 3:47
3. "Change the World" – 3:03
4. "Execute the Sounds" – 3:01
5. "Find My Way" – 3:09
6. "Revolution" – 3:25 (featuring Phil Keaggy)
7. "The Reasons" – 3:44
8. "Freedom Fighters" – 4:12
9. "Waiting on Today" – 3:06
10. "I and Identify" – 3:15
11. "Asthma" – 4:01
12. "Eternal" – 6:19 (featuring Phil Keaggy)

Bonus tracks

• "Sleeping Awake" – 3:23
• "Space" (The Phatheads Remix) – 4:49 (bonus track included on Japanese releases)

Notes

• "Execute the Sounds" uses the chorus of the Boogie Down Productions song "Stop the Violence" off the 1988 album By All Means Necessary. Black Star also used the same chorus on their song "RE: DEFinition" from their 1998 album Black Star.
• The bonus track "Sleeping Awake" was originally featured on the Matrix Reloaded soundtrack released in April 2003.
• Bonus content on some albums allowed the download of the track "Space" from a hidden website.
• Some albums included a demo version of the Harmonix music game Amplitude. The only song featured on the game is the aforementioned song "Space".
• The Deluxe edition of the album comes with a DVD featuring the making of the album.
• This is P.O.D.'s shortest album, being eleven seconds shorter than the second shortest Snuff the Punk.

Singles

• "Will You"
• "Change the World"
• "Freedom Fighters (Live)" iTunes single not released to radio.

Cover art

The album cover was designed and painted by Latino artist Daniel Martin Diaz. While Daniel claims he is a devout Catholic, some felt the cover was negatively symbolic and many Christian music stores refused to carry the album.^[1] Due to design issues, Daniel was asked to do the interior layout as well as the cover, a task he completed in less than a week. While the imagery on the interior is very grotesque, all of the pictures are taken from other paintings he has done, which can be viewed on his website (http://www.danielmartindiaz.com/). When viewed in the original paintings, the symbolic meanings can be observed. Most of the paintings contain Catholic imagery, combined with a fair amount of mysticism.

References

External links

• Official website